Methods  of  Preservation  and  Disfrilmtion. 
29 
There  is  yet  another  mode  of  treating-  fruit  in  the  United 
States  and  Canada  even  more  important  than  evaporation.  This 
is  the  preserving  of  the  fruit  in  tin  cans  and  glass  jars,  and  is 
termed  “canning.”  Fruit  treated  in  this  way  will  keep  for 
long  periods,  as  the  air  is  exhausted  and  all  germs  of  fer- 
mentation are  excluded  ; much  or  little  sugar  may  be  used  or 
none  at  all.  Canning  might  be  adopted  in  Gfreat  Britain  with 
much  advantage,  both  by  the  producers  themselves,  and  by  the 
establishment  of  factories  to  which  fruit  could  be  consigned  ; 
so  that  surplus  fruit  might  be  utilised  and  the  panic  prices 
occasionally  ruling  in  fruitful  seasons  avoided.  But  canning, 
like  evaporation,  though  they  would  both  be  most  valuable  aids 
in  the  disposition  of  fruit,  has  not  found  favour  with  British 
growers  or  buyers. 
A canning  factorv  is  furnished  with  most  ingenious 
apparatus  for  paring,  coring,  and  stoning  fruit,  and  is  also 
provided  with  large  tanks,  heated  by  steam,  for  boiling  the 
fruit.  Apples,  pears,  and  peaches  are  pared,  cored,  and  then 
washed  in  troughs.  The  fruit  is  crammed  into  cans  or  glass 
jars  as  tightly  as  possible.  Plums  are  rapiilly  stoned  by 
machinery  and  pressed  into  cans  or  glass  jars.  The  cans  or 
glasses  are  labelled  to  show  the  kind  of  fruit  in  them  and  are 
arranged  in  racks  holding  many  dozens,  placed  upon  trucks, 
and  carried  to  a tank  of  syrup  from  which  each  can  or  glass  is 
filled  up.  Caps  or  metal  coverings  are  then  soldered  on  by 
means  of  a clever  machine,  which  works  most  rapidly.  A 
small  hole  is  left  in  the  centre  of  each  caj),  which  is  so  small 
that  no  water  or  syrup  can  get  in.  The  truck  with  the  cans  is 
moved  to  a tank  containing  boiling  water  in  which  the  racks 
of  cans  or  glasses,  lifted  from  the  trucks,  are  placed  and  kept 
for  spaces  of  time  varying  with  the  kind  of  fruit.  After  this 
boiling  the  holes  in  the  caps  are  soldered  up.  Again  the  cans 
are  put  into  boiling  water  for  a few  iiiinutes  to  destrov  any 
germs  that  might  set  u])  fermentation. 
Glass  jars  are  used  in  ]>reserving  fruit  and  vegetables  in 
the  United  States  and  Canada  to  a considerable  e.xtent,  as  they 
have  many  advantages  over  cans,  which  are  supposed  to  com- 
municate unpleasant  flavour  and  unwholesome  (juality  in  some 
degree.  The  glass  jars  used  in  the  United  States  are  shown  by 
the  Figures  A and  B given  here,  having  metal  lids  which  are 
screwed  on.  They  are  termed  “ Lightning  ” and  “ Mason  ” 
respectively,  and  i-ange  in  capacity  from  one  pint  to  two 
quarts. 
